Monday, November 07, 2016

An IMRAN™ Experience! Time Lapse 360° VR Music Video Of 2 Hours Tampa Bay Sunset In 30 Seconds. Watch in full view or enjoy the fully immersive 360 degrees virtual reality experience turning your device screen around up and down, left and right, full circle. Or use your fingers to swipe around.

Tuesday, November 01, 2016

It was Halloween but the water of Tampa Bay was eerie in its perfect stillness. The brilliant day gave way to another gorgeous dark night with a beautiful sunset as the perfect backdrop for a jet ski ride, return home, shutting down for the night and enjoying a surreal experience in full 360° VR panorama timelapse video set to an original theme I created "Dark Knight Night WaveRunner" inspired in part by a piece called "Putin's Demise" {which would be a great thing to happen in the real world!) by Basil P. Enjoy the full 360° panorama flat or interactive view as I will post it in both formats.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

There are a lot of news items about people expressing their protests in different ways, from kneeling at the time of the national anthem to flag burning Americans.

I have no sympathy for racial groups that have a sense of entitlement because some white man enslaved some black man 400 years ago. Many of us immigrants come from former colonies or enslaved countries. Some still live in places like that in Kashmir and Palestine.

The groups that celebrate gangster culture in their music and commit crimes but get off easy for playing the race card. I cannot stand them. But I am deeply & literally physically sickened when I see, again and again, unarmed black men being killed by out of control cops, none of whom go to jail.

So, I can understand the silent, peaceful, protest of some professional players to call attention to the matter.

If anything, I am dismayed that a supreme court justice, whom I respect, first foolishly expressed political opinions against Donald Trump. Though I cannot stand him, I would expect a Supreme Court justice to keep their personal opinions to themselves in case the election leads to a Supreme Court case. I would expect even a despicable person like him to get a fair hearing.

(Sidebar: I despise both candidates. Donald Trump being the worst Presidential candidate in recent history is the only reason the second worst candidate Hillary Clinton is likely to become President. Even worse, as I have been warning my Republican friends for months, he could cost them Senate and even Congress if things keep going as they are. Then they will be wishing they had accepted President Obama's moderate nominee).

The lady Justice then called the silent peaceful protesting players stupid for kneeling in protest at the anthem. Maybe she is ready to retire and wants to go out making some statements like that to be in the news, but she is wrong on that.

The fact of the matter is, saying Black Lives Matter when an unarmed man is murdered by cops just because he was Black, does not mean one is saying it is OK to kill cops or that other lives do not matter. I do not see a stream of videos of cops shooting white people for even more egregious actions.

Therefore, silent peaceful protest it to be respected not demonized. Would we rather have the violent gangs burning up cities as happened in Ferguson?

No group is perfect. Speak up for injustices against blacks or any group. But throw criminals in jail hard regardless of their color. Stand by the police. But call out and prosecute the killers among them.

That brings us to another controversy people are fed to take their attention off real issues, Burning of the American Flag.

I dislike people who disrespect the flag of their own country. BUT, remember, the Flag is symbolic, the Constitution is what makes us the greatest country in the world.

Symbols represent us. Principles make us who we are. We could change the American flag to all pink and purple or any color and still be the same great nation if we live by our constitution.

So do not get caught up in the furor of someone burning the flag. Sure, discourage them, ignore them, but do not threaten or attack them. They are doing what our constitution gives them the right to do as also decided in a Supreme Court decision.

Only a freedom guaranteeing constitution like ours gives people the right to burn the flag or do other stupid things under free speech.

Our principles must always trump even our own symbols. Symbols can change but not change who we are. But if we abandon our principles, it won't matter what color or how fancy or pretty or fireproof our flags are.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Everyone knows of my weakness for beautiful women in general, and gorgeous blondes in particular. I would never press Eject or run from them unless they are bipolar or two-faced.

I also happen to love Music of almost all types. Other than a few notable exceptions though, rap, especially the cuss-violence-hate-lack-of-talent filled kind that seems to get most popular because of the ghetto gangsta culture popularized in some communities and by some media, is not on my favorites list. That is why I hardly ever heard of Kanye West types unless they did stupid, or ridiculous, or criminal stuff that got in the news.

Despite all that, I had fallen in love with the song "No Church in the Wild". Kanye, JAY Z, Frank Ocean. Not one of them a person I had ever bought a song of, yet this one quickly became one of my 50 Most Played Songs ever. Surprisingly full of poetry, music, politics, religion, society, history, more music, lyrics, and deep ideas... all wrapped into one song. A song to be remembered for a lifetime by any artist, even though it had 3 major names behind it.

That song was where I first got to know about this, well, artist. Though Kanye, JayZ, et. al. are not in my playlist except that one incredible song above, when I was on iTunes updating apps today, I saw this new album being promoted. I clicked to hear what the much hyped album BLOND by Frank Ocean album would offer.

I clicked, and listened, and then the next one, and then the next one, and.... Now I know the good reason that the "Artist" is hiding this face on the album cover.

The first few tracks sounded like typical B- to B+ songs one can find in many albums. But due to some technical bug, it seems most of the remaining song files got corrupted on iTunes and every CD that was manufactured. I could not hear decent music. I could not hear anything poetic. I did not hear lyrics. I heard some possibly human sounding voices cussing and more like whining than singing.

Then I realized, I had to write this review and save you from wasting your time, if you ever consider getting or hearing BLONDE by Frank Ocean.

Thursday, August 18, 2016

That's not a WindowsPhone ringing but death bell of Microsoft's phone platform strategy that you do not hear, because when was the last time you heard a WindowsPhone ring except for the expensive product placements on TV shows and in movies?

It was a mere $8-10 BILLION write off which destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of Nokia employees. Please stand by for a similar LinkedIn write off in 3 years for about $30 Billion. They could have cured Cancer or built 1000 hospitals worldwide with that money!

Imagine me, a MacOS lover from Day 1, working at Microsoft (in strategy / cloud / consulting though) for 3 years. Ironically, I was already sick and tired of the 200 years old iOS UI (user interface) that has STILL not changed since it launched, and the UXdesign (user experience getting worse) from Apple in EVERY area.

So I was actually happy to see Microsoft's WindowsPhone interface as one of the few things they did not steal from, I mean, copy from Apple, and something actually better. But, the problem was not the technology. It was, and likely still is, the people of Microsoft.

It is a company with MANY smart people who made so many stupid decisions again and again, but never learned. A most senior leader liked some ideas I had to build a WindowsPhone ecosystem. He connected me with an Indian guy (not Satya Nadella) who was the VP responsible for WindowsPhone app and ecosystem development. I wish I remembered his name now.

On each proposed step I discussed, he laughed and said, "We are Microsoft, We do not need to do that." And, "Developers are begging us to develop on our platform."

I wish I could have recorded that conversation for entertainment value alone.

Beautiful summer day on Long Island, New York, at my blessed home. Looking out the sliding doors I saw a reminder of why I love having planted four butterfly bushes years ago. They grow massive and even 12 feet tall or higher before being trimmed by the landscapers. Some days they're covered in monarch butterflies. The bushes, not the landscapers. 😄

Today I saw these two bright yellow and dark blue spotted ones despite it being a windy day. I was able to get close to them and record, create and upload this fun little movie right from my iPhone 6S+. NO color editing or setting or filter of Any kind.

Monday, August 15, 2016

What!? HOW DARE THEY DO THAT?! A shameful image to see on Pakistan's Independence Day, August 14! People of Pakistan ...

Why are pictures of the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and respected Miss. Fatima Jinnah, up SO HIGH?

They are almost too close to the greatest leaders on the Planet (Lollywood) that no one will remember in 50 years.

//end sarcasm

Send 1000 Jootian (rotting shoes) to the ass licking chamchas (sycophants) who put up the posters this way. Thanks to Shams Bin Niaz for the photo.

For my non-Pakistani friends, this is like political parties here putting up posters of Donald Trump/Mike Pence or Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine ABOVE posters of George Washington/Abraham Lincoln along city streets on the 4th of July.

Sadly, we are not far from that situation here in USA either. A few years ago Fox News had actually done a segment on George W. Bush (Yes, the moron retard Iraq War one) being THE GREATEST PRESIDENT EVER...

Seriously. It seems Pakistan has also reached that level of sickening political shamelessness. Or, wait.... is it the other way around?

This video shows that the only thing cheaper than the Chinese junk we buy here is Chinese lives in China . Shame.

Even in countries with frequent terror attacks like Pakistan,Iraq,Afghanistan, etc., where terrorists detonate additional bombs to kill the innocent people gathering to help bombing victims, decent people still rush to help.

Shame on every single person that ignored this victim and kept on going.

Thursday, August 04, 2016

I'll be honest, though my Dad loved British cars in Pakistan, until he finally got used to the reliability and quality of Honda vehicles, but I have never been a fan of them.

I never liked the classic Rolls-Royce Motor Cars regardless of how much class they were supposed to exude. I disliked them even more when BMW bought the RR brand and made them into brutish, more monstrous than sophisticated, tanks, which, in recent years were being sold in such ugly garish colors that only a hoodlum rapper on LSD (does THAT drug even exist anymore, or was that taken over by some other company too LOL) and a love of shiny disco balls would love.

But, seeing this newest model, I have to say, when I am ready for 4-5 luxury cars, I would consider having this particular model among a Mercedes Maybach / S600/ S65 AMG, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and possibly one of those Danish supercars.

Though I am not a fan of the rear-swinging doors, this is a great photo and color scheme.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Profane Loves Are The Most Sacred, in my Book Of Love, Desire, Lust, Passion, and a life lived fulfilling every wish. This video is set to Wagner's opera Tannhauser presented in an IMRAN re-interpretation. Composed in 1845 based on a poet from 1245 AD, the opera has a rather powerful description.... "The story centers on the struggle between sacred and profane love, and redemption through love, a theme running through much of Wagner's mature work."
Sacred and Profane Love (also known as Venus and the Bride) is also an oil painting by Titian, painted c. 1514.
In my book, the most profane loves are the most sacred. And I would travel to the ends of the earth to experience, savor, celebrate, honor, love and cherish them.
I also love the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean on the East Coast of Florida (and New York) as much as I love the stunning red colors of the sunsets on the Gulf Coast at the West Coast of Florida.
That is why it was great to visit the Ormond Beach area for a wonderful afternoon with beloved friends, and to pick up great food that my private chef there made for me. While she was cooking I went off to enjoy the expansive beaches in the area.
Driving up to Al Weeks Park I found the right balance of wide beach and not too many people around making it perfect for me to do a FaceBook livestream from my DJI Phantom 4 drone. That is why you see me speaking in the video,See it at http://facebook.com/IMRAN.TV . You can see how windy it was, and the drone did a very good job of keeping level in flight. But as I was turning it 360 degrees 400 feet up in the air, you can see some parts where the wind tilts it enough to show the horizon tilt briefly.
This is the actual 4K video, about 30 minutes cut to under 15. I was looking for a piece of music to fit that length and that choice can be somewhat limited. I found this opera in my collection and did a reinterpreted version of it.
I did not have time to do a detail edit to set all the motion to just the right movement of music, especially because rendering a 4K video takes so long, and then uploading it and having YouTube fail to process it twice added to the delay. Third time is the charm.
I hope you will love the stunning scene and the aerial view as you feel yourself at the beach and above it!
What do you think of the view?

Friday, July 08, 2016

Not only was I blessed to experience this mind blowing ZERO color editing or processing or tweaking or ANY kind. This is a quarter of the original 4K SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera) video from the DJI drone camera. As I was bringing the drone in for a landing after a fabulous sunset and dusk I felt the dusk colors would make an awesome backdrop to make use of the closely spaced objects and strictures on my dock at home in Florida to make it a fun 3D video. I will also upload this somewhere on one of my sites in full size for people to be able to view in full resolution on their 3D smart TVs with active shutters than with anaglyph which kills sunset colors.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

As a kid I left home in Punjab, Pakistan, to live with my grandmother in Karachi, for a better education. My mother and siblings would visit during the holidays. Dad would sometimes come with them. His work with the irrigation department meant many holiday periods coincided with floods in areas he was responsible for irrigation and safety of rivers, canals, dams, etc. But it also became a family ritual that he would surprise us by taking a flight and coming to see us in Karachi.

Keeping the tradition alive later in Lahore, I would sometimes do the same. But it became even more exciting to be able to surprise my family by showing up in Lahore unannounced while giving the impression I was in New York unable to visit.

Based on Columbia Business School schedules and later pace of life in NY, my attempt was always to go to Pakistan for my birthday, May 23, even though it is brutally hot in summer.

I tried to twice annually. Over time, as my Surprise visits became more predictable, I mixed it up by going for my parents’ birthdays, December 25 & August 22.

After Mom's unexpected death too young on 2/2/1992 I started going on that day too. Since flights from New York to Lahore were on certain days a week, my family expected me to 'surprise' them on those days. I would counter that by traveling from other cities, like Washington, DC, to take a longer flight from there on different day. (Remind me another day to tell you the most surreal travel story of my life that happened in one such trip).

In 2008 I was working in Miami, unaware that a very tough time was coming up. One of my loves T and I worked at an organization in Miami, where management was trying to do something definitely unethical and self-serving use of state funds meant for children on welfare. I was working as a CIO but on a consultant, not full time employee, basis. I was asked to come on full time. Certain that if I did that and did what I was being asked to sign off on, one day I would be left holding the bag for their shenanigans. So, we parted ways in April 2008.

Abu had been paralyzed by a stroke in 2002 but was otherwise in good health and spirits. I had seen him a few months prior, in a typical short surprise trip. This time I decided to spend more time with him, and managed to surprise them all with my arrival in May.

It was typical hot weather. Because of incompetence and corruption of EVERY ruler in Pakistan, from Sharif to Bhutto to treasonous Army generals, power failures are a daily routine, sometimes for 12-18 hours in some areas!

Even inside the house, it gets hot quickly. You can see the sweat on my face as I had someone take a candid photo with Dad as he was reading a medicine's packaging.

I am so glad I spent two months with him then. I came back to NY in July but then went back to surprise him on his birthday in August. I stayed another two months, not too worried about going back to work in NY, as I had plenty of money saved up and stocks. Little did I know that within months it would all be gone.

Every time I used to bid adieu to my father I always soaked it all in; time and feelings, sights and sounds, love and lifelong bond. One never knows when it is the last time you meet a loved one.

I came back to New York around October. I was going to do a third surprise trip within one year after a long time, for my late Mom's birth date, but Christmas rush meant there were no seats.

As God would will it, Abu passed away unexpectedly, not from the stroke but from the effects of aspirating some food accidentally. Within weeks of that all I had built up over 20 years living and working in America was lost in the economic meltdown of 2009, starting one of the most difficult times of my life, from which in some ways I am still recovering.

But, there is not one thing I would change about the four months of 2008 that I was able to spend with Abu.

Monday, June 13, 2016

While there can be that sense of fate and foreboding that makes one wonder about doing something crazy like another skydive right on one's birthday, the actual statistical risks are obviously the same as any other day.

But then, fate is always the hunter, and destiny always the elusive and submissive mistress, begging to be tamed by a wild raging heart filled with passion and zest for life.

The song selections for this music video reflect that. Enjoy the music and video in 3D on your 3D enabled TV or laptop or with anaglyph (red/cyan) glasses.

Monday, June 06, 2016

While there can be that sense of fate and forboding that makes one wonder about doing something crazy like another skydive right on one's birthday, the actual statistical risks are obviously the same as any other day.

But then, fate is always the hunter, and destiny always the elusive and submissive mistress, begging to be tamed by a wild raging heart filled with passion and zest for life.

The song selections for this music video reflect that. Enjoy the music and video.

Wednesday, June 01, 2016

There is never an ordinary Florida sunset. But some I can predict to be stunning from the cloud formations even from late afternoon. I try to capture those in timelapse videos. Many times I am blessed to experience these magical momens of life, nature, and closeness to God that I love to share with you. Your prayers always appreciated.

Saturday, April 30, 2016

I was looking out at the gorgeous day on Tampa Bay when I saw this little critter hop on to the base of the pillar trying to impress another one. I saw it doing it's throat puffing thing so I slid open the doors to make a video. It saw me and stopped. I waited about 2 minutes before it started doing it again, while keeping a wary eye on me, It was not jumping jack but definitely a little leaping lizard that doesn't know jack about being posted on social media. :-)

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Just an average but still dramatic golden red rushing sweet sunset turns into a beautiful pastels and reds dusk seen from upstairs at home on Tampa Bay in Apollo Beach, Florida. Created completely on a still great Apple iPad 3.